


What's In The Box?

by JustAnAnxiousMess



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Abused Deceit | Janus Sanders, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Captivity, Heavy Angst, Panic Attacks, Starvation, Torture, Unsympathetic Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:07:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26859448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAnAnxiousMess/pseuds/JustAnAnxiousMess
Summary: Trigger Warnings: mentions of panic attacks, violence, blood and injuries, starvation, torture, captivity
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	What's In The Box?

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warnings: mentions of panic attacks, violence, blood and injuries, starvation, torture, captivity

"Hey, let's go for a day trip to the imagination now you're finished fixing it!"

"that's a great idea Patton! We can have a picnic during the day and watch the stars at night!"

"Does this trip really require us all to come?"

"Yeah, can't I just stay in my room for this?"

"Now I know you two aren't keen on the imagination but think of how much fun you'll have! Logan you can point out the constellations and stuff to us! And Virgil you know we'll end up doing something you're sure to enjoy!" Patton was bright and enthusiastic.

Logan and Virgil exchanged looks of reluctance before sighing and giving in. Neither of them wanted to be the cause of Pattons smile fading.

The four set off into the imagination and it didn't take long for them to find somewhere Patton thought would be good for a picnic.

"We can sit under the trees there and still be close enough to the lake that we can watch the different creatures!" Patton was saying as he conjured a blanket for them to sit on.

Logan frowned "Surely you'd be worried about any insects that might be around."

Patton shook his head with a beaming grin. "That's the best part about the imagination! There are no bugs or pests of any kinds unless you conjure them. Which means this is the optimal picnic spot!"

Whatever Logan had been about to respond with immediately died in his throat at Pattons use of the word optimal.

Virgil had already let out a huff and sat with his back to the tree trunk so nothing could creep up behind him. That was a habit he'd picked up after all the time with Deceit and The Others.

Patton sat down and started to unpack the food with a grin as Logan sat down rather heavily next to him.

Roman remained standing, his eyes scanning the surrounding area with an odd glint in them.

"Roman?" Patton called, jolting Roman out of his thoughts.

"Yes Patton?"

"Do you want a sandwich?" Patton asked gesturing to the sandwiches he'd unpacked.

"yes, as long as they're not cheese." Roman said, finally taking a seat.

There was a few seconds of silence as everyone ate but Logan finally broke it after looking around in confusion.

"So what exactly happened last week that broke the imagination? You never told us and it doesn't seem as if anything's that different."

Romans lips twitched up into a slight smirk for a split second before his expression smoothed out into a casually disinterested one. "Just a monster that got out of hand which I had trouble defeating. Everything is back the way it should be now though."

Logan and Patton nodded and started talking about something else but Virgil remained silent, frowning slightly as he looked at Roman carefully.

He was sure he'd seen something odd on Romans face for half a second but it had gone before he even really knew what he'd seen.

Roman must have felt Virgil watching him because he sent him the usual smile but there was something else. Something... Off about it.

"What do you think Virgil?"

"huh?" Virgil tore his eyes away from Roman to look at Patton who quickly repeated his question. "I said we could go swim in the lake after we've eaten. Although we should wait twenty minutes after eating."

"yeah, sure. I mean you guys can but I don't know how to swim so I'll just sit on the shore and watch." Virgil said, mumbling the last part and flushing with embarrassment.

"It's OK Virgil, I can conjure you something to float on if you'd like." Roman said and Virgil shook his head.

"I'd rather stay on the shore." he muttered and Roman shrugged. "Alright no problem."

Once everyone had finished eating and waited the appropriate amount of time, Patton and Roman raced towards the water where they quickly changed into swimming trunks and started a splash fight.

Logan walked slowly towards the water with Virgil, neither of them feeling particularly comfortable in the imagination for some reason.

Something felt different to the last time they'd visited.

They stopped at the waters edge, watching as Patton and Roman splashed each other.

A wave of water suddenly drenched Logan who took his glasses off, cleaned them and then slowly put them back on to send a stern look at Patton who had his hands over his mouth to stop himself laughing.

"I'll get you for that." Logan said in a low voice before jumping into the lake and practically tackling Patton who squealed in surprise as he was dunked.

Virgil snorted as the usually serious trait seemed to embrace his inner child and started splashing around with the other two.

He watched them for a while and soon grew bored, his eyes drifting over the surrounding area until he noticed something off in the distance, in the shadow of a huge rock.

He glanced at the other three who were too busy play fighting to notice him and started to walk towards the large rock.

As he got closer he realised the strange object was a box that appeared to be made of wood.

He stopped quite a distance from it, unsure what exactly it was so he wasn't willing to risk getting too close. The downside to that was he didn't really see anything that hinted what the box was for.

Before he could so much as take another step closer to try and see if he could find some sort of indicative feature he heard Romans voice from right behind him, making him spin round in fright.

"I wouldn't go near that if I were you."

"w... Why? What is it?" Virgil stuttered, clutching his chest from where Roman had snuck up on him.

"It's the thing that broke the imagination last week. It took a lot to contain it because I couldn't find a way to completely destroy it. If you get too close you might accidentally let it out." as Roman spoke Virgil heard something scrabbling at the wood and he stepped away from the box in alarm.

"What is it?" Virgil asked again, his eyes locked onto the box, therefore missing the gleam of satisfaction in Romans eyes.

"It doesn't matter, we're heading to the castle now."

Virgil couldn't think of anything to respond so he allowed Roman to lead him away from the box.

The rest of the day passed with more of the same, the four of them hanging out, having fun, but that evening as they lay in a field stargazing, Logan quietly muttering the names of the constellations as he pointed to them, Virgil couldn't focus.

He was laying on his back with his eyes on the sky but his mind was still dwelling on the box.

In fact his mind had been focused on the box for the whole day but it was really starting to bother him now.

He probably wouldn't have thought on it much if it hadn't been for the way Roman had sounded when he spoke about it.

Virgil lay there for several hours as he waited for the others to slowly drift off and when finally Romans snores started up he silently got to his feet and began the long walk back to the field where the lake and box had been.

Virgil stopped as he found himself in front of the box again and listened carefully.

There didn't seem to be any noise from the box so he took a step closer and crouched down, wincing as his knee clicked loudly.

It seemed as if the thing in the box had merely been waiting for a noise because once again there was scrabbling noises.

Virgil knelt right next to the box and frowned as he thought he heard a quiet voice over the scrabbling.

"Hello?" he asked and the scrabbling stopped.

There was a few seconds of silence before a weak voice responded. "V...Virgil? Is... Is that y... You?"

Virgil put his hand over his mouth in horrified shock. "Deceit? What are you doing in there?"

There was a muffled sob followed by a response. "R.... Roman. He... He put me in here."

Virgil went to reach out a hand to touch the box and then stopped. "How do I know you're really Deceit? You could be some monster that's trying to trick me into releasing it by convincing me Romans locked Deceit up."

"please.... Virgil... It's m... Me. The first w... Words I ever s... Spoke to you were.... Welcome to the mindspace... Keep your head down and... Never turn your b...Back on anyone unless you want to g... Get hurt."

Virgil felt slightly sick as he realised this was in fact Deceit and Roman had locked him up.

"don't worry, I'll get you out." Virgil said, wincing as he heard Deceit chanting the words "thank you" over and over again.

Virgil got to his feet and walked around the box, looking for a way to open it.

He noticed a small hole which was presumably only there for Deceit to be able to breath. He looked around and remembered the trees he'd sat under while eating the picnic and ran over to them to try and find a sturdy enough stick or branch he could use as a makeshift crowbar.

He went back over to the box when he'd found one and muttered "I'm gonna try and use a branch as a crowbar so keep still."

Virgil managed to pry one side of the box away enough that he could see inside by the light of the moon overhead and he inhaled sharply as he saw the state Deceit was in.

The snake faced trait was thin and weak looking and as soon as he realised the box was slightly open he pushed desperately at the side Virgil had been prying open but Deceit was too weak to be able to do much but make the wood creak slightly.

Virgil again started prying open the side of the box and there was a brief seconds pause before finally the side of the box gave way and Deceit immediately scrambled out of the box on his hands and knees.

Virgil was stunned as Deceit clung to him, sobbing and thanking him over and over.

"Hey, you're OK, I've got you." Virgil said in a hushed voice, wrapping his arms around Deceit and wincing at just how thin and fragile he felt.

He didn't know what to do. He wasn't cut out for this sort of thing and the fact Roman had done this was terrifying.

He needed help from someone who knew what they were doing.

Virgil gently pulled himself out of Deceits grip and carefully explained when he let out a whimper. "Don't worry, I'm going to go get someone who will know what to do, I'll be back in like five seconds, OK?"

Deciet nodded, his bottom lip trembling as he hugged himself.

Virgil quickly ran in the direction of the field where he and the others had been stargazing.

He resisted the urge to kick Roman in the head as he walked past and instead carefully made it over to Logan who he gently shook awake.

Logan opened his eyes and sat up with a frown but didn't say anything when he saw Virgil with his finger to his lips.

Logan looked down at Patton who'd fallen asleep right next to him and used sign language to ask Virgil what was going on so he didn't wake Patton.

Virgil blinked in confusion, his panic causing his brain to cut out slightly but he quickly replied using sign language that it was urgent that Logan follow him.

Logan frowned and gestured to the other two and Virgil shook his head frantically.

Logan shrugged and carefully got up, trying not to wake Patton who shifted slightly in his sleep but stayed asleep.

Virgil quietly lead the way back to where he'd left Deceit and when he was sure they were far enough a way from the other traits to not be heard, he broke into a run.

He ran over to the box where he'd left Deceit and the scaled trait immediately grabbed onto him, shaking and whimpering.

Logan froze, his jaw dropping as he saw the state Deceit was in. "What happened?" he said in a quiet voice and Virgils eyes flashed with anger.

"Roman locked him in that box. While you three were in the lake I spotted that box and walked over to it but before I could do anything except look Roman came over. He told me not to go near it because the monster that broke the imagination last week was inside. Said he'd had trouble trying to destroy it but he'd managed to contain. I asked what exactly it was and he changed the subject but the damn box was on my mind the whole day so, when you all fell asleep, I came out here to find out more. I crouched next to it and Deceit must have heard me because he started scrambling and trying to speak and eventually he managed to get through to me and prove it was in fact him and not some monster trying to trick me into freeing it. I pried open the box and decided I need your expertise because I'm not cut out for this sort of stuff."

When Virgil finished his explanation Logan had a matching anger in his eyes.

"I think it's safe to assume that Deceit must have been in that box for at least a week then and Roman was telling us the imagination was broken as an excuse so we didn't come across him. Although I am not sure why he deemed it OK for us to return again."

"I... It's because I l... Lost my voice from s... Screaming for help." Deceit whispered, tears running down his face as small sobs broke up his words. "he.... He said he was g... Going to leave me to slowly s... S... Starve and dehydrate because..... Because a quick d... Death was t... Too g...good for m... Me..."

Virgil let out a small angry growl at that and it was only because Deceit was clinging to him that he didn't go back to the field and let out his anger at Roman.

"We need to go get Patton. This situation will need all of us if we are to deal with Roman and we are not going to be able to keep this from Patton." Logan said and Virgil nodded to show he agreed, not trusting himself enough to speak because he didn't want to end up shouting.

Logan turned back to go get Patton while Virgil stayed with Deceit.

"I won't let him touch you and if he even looks at you wrong I'll scratch his eyes out." Virgil growled, holding Deceit in his arms and rubbing a hand up and down the crying traits back.

Logan eventually returned with Patton who took one look at the state Deceit was in and went into Dad Mode.

"We have to take him back to the mindspace immediately, get some food and water in him but not too much at once. We don't want to overload his body by flooding it with more food and drink than it can handle."

"What about Ro...." Logan started but Patton cut him off with a single look.

"Deceit is my main priority. Once he's taken care of we can talk about that but right now that's not important."

Patton scooped Deceit up into his arms and began carrying him towards the door of the imagination.

Logan and Virgil looked at each other for a second before quickly following.

They caught up to Patton as he walked into the main mindspace and once the door to the imagination had shut behind them Patton started shouting orders at the other two.

"Logan get him some water! Virgil make him some dry toast or something! Don't worry kiddo, you're going to be OK."

Deceit had shoved his face into Pattons chest and had his hands gripping his shirt tightly but the moral trait wasn't complaining.

He walked into his own room and set Deceit down on the soft bed, running his fingers through Deceits hair and murmuring comforting words to him as he waited for the other two to finish what they were doing.

Logan walked in with a glass of water with a straw in it so Deceit didn't have to try and tip it with his shaky hands, he just had to sip.

"Don't gulp down too much or you'll make yourself sick OK?" Patton said as he held the glass of water steady for Deceit.

Virgil came in with a plate of dry toast as instructed and put it on Deceits lap for him.

Deceit took a few sips of the water and immediately took a couple bites of the toast, still shaking but he let out a small sigh of relief as he finally filled his stomach for the first time in days.

The three traits watched as Deceit eventually began to drift off and Patton put the plate on the bedside table with the glass of water so it didn't get knocked onto the floor while Deceit slept.

Patton gestured outside and they carefully walked out into the hallway where Patton spoke in a hushed voice "Now tell me everything."

Logan and Virgil took turns explaining what they knew about why Deceit was in such a state and by the time they'd finished they had taken steps back from Patton who was very red in the face.

"half of me wants to lock the imagination door so he's trapped in there. But the other half doesn't want to sink to his level." Patton said in a forced calm voice.

"do you think we should go in and confront him or...?" Virgil started to ask but Patton immediately responded, cutting him off.

"No. The imagination is his realm, he'd have the advantage. We'll wait for him to come back to the main mindspace."

"so we sit and wait?" Logan asked

"yes."

Patton walked back into his room and took a seat next to the bed where Deceit was sleeping, leaving the other two to exchange worried but determined looks.

The three of them remained with Deceit for a few hours until they heard the sound of footsteps in the corridor.

Patton raised his head and the hand that had been gently stroking through Deceits hair stilled. He looked at the other two and they all stood up and walked out into the hallway, closing the door behind them so Deceit wasn't woken up.

They all stood with their arms folded as Roman walked into view and stopped several feet away.

"You look like you're posing for a boyband album cover." Roman said with a small chuckle that was almost normal but the glint in his eyes betrayed the fact he clearly knew why they were standing there like that.

"Why did you do it?" Logan asked in a hard angry tone when it became clear neither of the other two trusted themselves to speak just yet.

Roman grinned "It's my job as a Prince to protect you all. So that's what I did."

"the only thing we need protecting from is you and your stupid, stupid, flawed logic!" Virgil shouted.

Romans grin faded and it was replaced by a cold smile, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"You should be thanking me Virgil. After all he put you through before you came to us."

Virgil flinched backwards, tears filling his eyes "What he did? He did nothing! In fact he protected me from the other sides! And even if you'd trapped one of them in that damned box it wouldn't matter! No one deserves what you did!"

Roman scoffed. "Please, I was doing everyone a favour. We don't need him, he's the bad guy."

"That's exactly how you felt about me to begin with! And you were wrong! What if you're wrong this time too?" Virgil exclaimed in shock.

Roman smirked "I'm not. You only have to look at him to know he's a monster."

"Roman Sanders! You shut your mouth right now! As far as I'm concerned the only monster here is you! How dare you do that to him? How dare you lie to us? How absolutely dare you try and justify what you did by calling him the bad guy! You are not the same honourable, brave Prince I thought of as my child! You're malicious and cruel!"

Logan and Virgil flinched at Pattons loud harsh voice that seemed almost demonic from where it was booming and echoing around the corridor.

Roman took a step back in surprise before his face went red in anger. "How about you shut up Patton? You're always talking about some useless crap no one is interested in, you need to know when to keep your mouth shut and that no one cares what you say. You're so fucking annoying! You always get in the way and ruin everything with your stupid comments and puns!"

Patton gasped at Romans words, some of them hitting quite close to home, but he kept his angry expression on his face. "The 'useless crap' as you call it, is what I'm supposed to do! I do my job properly which is more than can be said for you Creativity! You're stepping out of your area by trying to 'protect' us. The protection of the mindspace falls down to Virgil, not you!"

Roman growled angrily as Patton referred to him as Creativity. "You want to talk about 'stepping out of areas'? What about you trying to control absolutely everything? Claiming to know what's best for Thomas when you're too stupid to know much of anything except how to throw together some stupid joke that no one finds funny. What do you have to say about that Morality?"

Patton let out an angry growl of his own. "Do not mistake my kindness and ability to see the good in everyone as stupidity! I do not step out of my area at all! As you said I am Morality! I know the difference between right or wrong and it's my job to keep everyone on the right side of things! That means you too! This whole situation is 100% wrong and if you don't back down I will be forced to do my job and make you see the error of your ways!"

Logan and Virgil had backed away, their eyes wide in shock and horror at how both of them were acting.

Roman let out another growl and suddenly his katana appeared in his hand. "I'm not backing down, come on dad, do your worst."

Patton eyed the katana for a split second but as Roman said the word dad in a taunting tone, something within him seemed to snap and he launched himself at Roman.

Romans eyes widened slightly at the pure rage on Pattons face but he quickly swung his katana at him.

It grazed Pattons arm but he didn't even acknowledge the pain as his hands grabbed Romans shoulders.

Virgil and Logan were frozen in fear and disbelief as they watched the two traits fighting it out.

Patton managed to knock the katana from Romans hands but Roman swung a fist instead and hit Patton right in the face, making Patton cry out in pain.

Logan, who'd been watching in shock, scowled as Patton stepped back from Roman clutching a bloody nose.

Roman didn't get a chance to react as he was tackled to the floor and found himself looking up at an infuriated Logan.

Virgil stood nearby trying to keep his breathing even and running his hands through his hair as he tried to think of a way to stop everyone fighting. None of this would end well for anyone.

"Stop!" he eventually shrieked and everyone froze, something he hadn't thought would work but he was glad it had as he was starting to hyperventilate. "Please just.... Just stop all of this!"

Patton walked towards Virgil, pushing away his anger at Roman to try and comfort Virgil.

Logan and Roman remained glaring at each other in an awkward anger filled silence, only broken by Virgils panting and quiet whimpering.

Eventually Logan removed himself from Roman and the two stood up, brushing off their clothes while still sending glares at each other.

"You've gone too far this time." Logan muttered, his eyes narrowed as he focused on Roman.

Roman sneered "I've barely even started. I'm going to make sure everything is exactly how it should be and if you don't agree I'll just have to make you agree."

Logan took a small step back as Romans katana reappeared in his hand again, his eyes widening as Roman pulled back his arm to swing the sword.

The sword swung forward and Logan managed to step backwards enough that it only left a long thin scratch on the arm he'd raised to protect himself.

"You've lost your mind!" Logan exclaimed, wincing at the scratch on his arm.

Roman grinned but there was nothing pleasant about it. "I'd like to think that I've finally gained clarity."

Virgil stared at Roman in horror and Patton opened his mouth to speak, a frown on his face.

"if you believe locking Deceit up in a box and leaving him to die or attacking Logan and me is right then you've truly lost it."

Roman scowled and angrily swiped his sword down, making Logan yelp as it caught him and tore his shirt, showing another long scratch that began to bead with blood.

Patton took a step closer, anger on his face. "Put the sword down!" he demanded.

Roman let out a low chuckle and suddenly thrust his katana forwards.

There was a cry of pain from Logan that caused Virgil and Patton to freeze in horror.


End file.
